If the Japanese want to enforce their drug laws, they are perfectly entitled to do so. But they had better be prepared for other countries to enforce their own laws, too.
Japan Inc. should be embarrassed about the treatment of former Toyota communications boss Julie Hamp. Her saga ended this week with her release by Japanese authorities who took her into custody for alleg ...Continue reading "What do Julie Hamp and price fixing have in common?" »Jul 9, 2015 2:20 pm U.S. ET()

Posted 2:30 pm U.S. ET, May 21
The Takata airbag crisis continues to mushroom into the largest safety recall disaster in auto industry history. That’s no small feat just a year after the General Motors ignition switch scandal.
This is the auto industry at its absolute worst -- both in Japan and in the U.S.
The industry knew as far back as 2008 that Takata’s airbags were highly questionable ...Continue reading "Fixing Takata fiasco must become top priority" »May 21, 2015 2:30 pm U.S. ET()

Posted 12:10 pm U.S. ET, Jan. 16
DETROIT -- I warned him.
During a chance encounter on Tuesday with Tesla’s Elon Musk before his appearance at the 2015 Automotive News World Congress, I jokingly told him we were going to put a stock ticker on the screen behind him, “so be careful what you say.”
He chuckled and, in his trademark accent, said he should probably say something sort of outr ...Continue reading "Musk's $481 million paper loss in Detroit" »Jan 16, 2015 12:10 pm U.S. ET()

Posted 12:01 am U.S. ET, Nov. 22
The U.S. Department of Justice has assessed $2.4 billion in fines on 32 auto parts suppliers and charged 46 individuals -- nearly all of them Japanese -- in the largest antitrust prosecution in U.S. history.
That’s just in the United States. The practice is a global epidemic that stifles fair competition, inflates the cost of components for automakers, erodes invest ...Continue reading "Automakers can stop supplier price-fixing now, but will they?" »Nov 22, 2014 12:01 am U.S. ET()